Best Places To Eat In Cardiff

As I've only got a few months of my university life left (very very sad), I am desperately trying to make the most of all of the amazing places to eat in Cardiff. Therefore, I thought I would update you on a few recent trips to some great places that I've been to lately in Cardiff. Except more to follow in the next few months.

Bills, Cardiff 

I've always heard good things about Bills and it is really no surprise. I absolutely loved the style of the restaurant as it had a kind of shabby kitchen style to it with lots of wood furniture and bottles and things to look at. I had the nachos to start and they honestly were amazing, they were home cooked and very thin and crispy with a light spice flavoring which really nicely complimented the salsa, sour cream and guacamole. I then went for the halloumi and hummus burger which also did not disappoint. I also really like the presentation of the food on little boards as I think it's a bit different and has a nice feel to it. Overall, I was really pleased with Bills and will certainly be returning before I leave, I might even venture to the one that is in the bay. 

Stag Coffee, Cathays 

One of my regular little student areas in Cathays has to be Stag Coffee. It's a really nice vintage little cafe which has great decor and a mismatch of furniture. One of the downsides however is it is very very tiny inside and you often struggle to get a seat, although saying this on a lovely sunny day there is plenty of room to sit in the garden or outside the front. I enjoyed a cookie crumble milkshake which was delicious and a brie and caramelized onion chutney panini, it was amazing. I would recommend a quick visit if you are ever in the area! 

Coffee Barker, Cardiff 

An ultimate top cafe for me in Cardiff has got to be Coffee Barker. Again it embraces the vintage, mismatch theme with various types of lamps and mirrors hanging from the walls. It's a really nice place to sit and have a drink and a catch up or even to sit and get on with some work quietly. The tuna melt panini is so tasty, filled with cheese and tomato and it comes with a lovely flavored chutney as well. They also have a range of cake flavours such as parma violet however on this occasion I stick with the chocolate sponge, yum!  

Emma Jaynes Cupckaes, Cathays 

Probably my favourite place to go for a cup of tea and of course a cupcake is Emma Jaynes. This tiny little cupcake shop is just so cute and sweet and the sun is always shining in through the window. They have a different range of cupcakes each day such as; salted caramel, chocolate orange, lemon, cherry bakewell, vanilla and lots more. I also love the retro tables with old Beano covers and old chocolate bars. They also sell baguettes for a really good price and you can choose your own chocolate bar milkshake, what is not to like? 

  

Juno Lounge, Cathays

What an amazing breakfast selection, pancakes, bacon, maple syrup, egg, chips and a sausage patty. It makes me mouth water just looking at it. Juno Lounge is another shabby student style cafe with old picture frames and photographs covering the walls. They do a range of food all day but the breakfasts have got to be up in the top choices and a pretty good price too! 

Overall my favourite place which is listed above has to be Emma Jaynes Cupcakes, for a £2 cupcake you really can't get any better, I honestly aim to try every flavour before I leave Cardiff in July. 

Enjoy eating all the good food, I know I did. 

Alice May 

️Xxx 

October favourites

I Absolutely cannot believe that we are at the end of October! It makes me so sad but so happy at the same time because it means CHRISTMAS! 

Here are a few little bits and bobs that I have been loving throughout the month of October! 

Firstly, as I absolutely love to get into the festive spirit of course I have dived, literally head first into the halloween bits. 

One of my favourite things about Halloween is the yummy snacks, I honestly could eat them all year! The Mr Kipling toffee terror whirls and the chocolate and slime bars are amazing! Both great with a cup of tea. I am also a big fan of the Jaffa cake bars in lemon and slime and zingy orange. They are yum. 

Following the halloween theme, I totally adore my new little candle burner from yankee. I decided to get a tart burner as I am always wanting to try out new scents and I thought this would be the cheapest way to do it. 

This month I have been loving three tarts; fireside treats, candy corn and ghostly treats. All three of them smell very sweet but also have that smokey October sent to them. Perfect to burn when you're doing work at your desk. 

Super excited to try the winter ones of the next few months.

Another candle I've been loving is Zoella's Lets Glow candle. This is a much lighter scent but great for relaxing and chilling out. 

As it's been getting a bit colder and my wardrobe has been more darker colours I have loved having more of an opportunity to wear my Topshop boots. They are so comfy but still a great height and just look good with a causal or more smart outfit. 

Had to mention my amazing Lisa Simpson pyjama leggings from Primark. They are just so comfy for a cold evening when you get home and just want to chill out. 

Also this super super cute phone case which I got from ebay for 2.99. It's dinsey, what more needs to be said? Also I've also worn this jumper quite a bit over October. It's pretty thick and the hearts just add some nice detail. 

Finally a few beauty/skincare products. Over the last few months I've been really enjoying the Bourjois bronzer. It's just great to add that bit of colour to your face in the transition between summer and winter. As my skins really pale it's just nice to brighten my face up a bit as my summer tan fades. 

Lastly, I've been enjoying using these two products on my face each morning and night. The Liz Earle cleanse and polish hot cloth cleanser is a really nice warm wake up for your face. It just makes your face feel really clean and it's great to help with spots. 

 Similarly, I've been using this Body shop, tea tree skin clearing toner. It's really refreshing to wipe onto your skin before you go to bed and gives you a really natural and clean feel to your skin and it's also great for spots. 

Those are what I'm really enjoying this month. I would love to hear about what you have all been loving too.

Love 

Alice May 

XXXX 

University room year three

As I've finally had time to get round to it (yes, I've been very absent over summer) I thought I would do another blogpost showing you the ins and outs of my university bedroom. For the past three years I have done a post including pictures and bits and bobs inside my room to give anyone some inspiration  about how to style a uni room. Or, if you're just nosy, like me it's always nice to have a look inside people's bedrooms.

I put a lot of effort into decorating my room each September as I feel that it's nice to have a area where you can chill and feel relaxed when you are doing your work or just laying about. I like my room to feel cute and homely and just a sweet place to be so I am always collecting little trinkets and odd bits to put in it. 

This year my room is up in the attic, right at the top of the house. It's been weird having to get used to the sloped ceilings but I think they actually add to the cosiness of my room. 

Most of the items in my room will be mentioned in the previous years blogposts which I will leave below, anything that is new I will leave details about here. So this is my bed, I love how it is next to the sloped ceiling as it gives it a nice tucked in feel. I struggled to find space to hang too many pictures because of all the low walls but I hung a picture above my bed and a dream catcher which I bought when I was on holiday. I hung some bunting to the ceiling which I think gives the room a bit of a festival feel to it.

As I had a lot of floor space this year I got a rag rug from John Lewis for about £20 and I love it, it really fills out the room and adds lots of bright colours! 

When I first moved into my room I had too many bits and bobs which made my room look untidy and cluttered. I went to ikea and got this fab storage shelf for £20, it's great for shoving all those bits and bobs you have no where to put! 

I also love the blue insert drawers which were £2.50 which add a pop of colour to your bedroom! On top of these shelves I love to put candles which make your room look really pretty at nighttime! 

Here is my very cluttered desk but you get the idea, I like to get lots of colourful bits to make a dull room seem a bit more lively. I also added some fairy lights  to my pin board to brighten it up.

I just have a very simple plain mirror which is hung up on the wall, and around it I have some sweet little flowers which were from Amazon just to add a more girly touch. 

I also added some more fairy lights which were £5 from tesco home. I got them in spaceships theme as I thought this would look super cute at night time with the sky window.

Lastly, my favourite part of the room is this little right hand corner where I just put lots of ornaments and bits and bobs. 

I love this turquoise blue colour as I think it's bright but calming at the same time. I have three little tea light holders from Tiger, and a cute teacup and teapot set from Marks and Spencer's. I also bought a vintage style clock from ikea and filled a Amazon jar with some fairy lights.

I think it looks very relaxing and cosy when I'm tucked up in bed with all my candles and lights on!

 Finally, I made a little display of polaroids hanging above the chest of drawers, I purchased some heart shaped pegs and just attached them with string to give it much more homely feel!

Thank you for taking a look inside my room, if you fancy looking at the other two years here they are; 

Year one; http://yayalicemay.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/little-uni-bedroom.html

Year two; http://yayalicemay.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/university-room-year-two.html

I would love to take a look at some of your bedrooms or some homeware items so leave me a comment. 

See you soon, 

Alice May 

Xxx

March favourites

Have to say it's pretty scary that March has already been and gone. Therefore the dreaded exam time is already looming. However, likewise summer is on it's way yay. 

Thought I would share some of my favourites from the past month! 

 Absolutely loving this Barry M nail polish. I love the gel nail paints as I think they give your nails that extra shine. I thought this light green was very spring like and I just really liked it. 

I've also really been liking this Revlon colour burst lip pen. It seems everyone's been talking about these and I have to say they really are amazing. I really like this orangey/coral colour as again, it is very with the approaching time of year. 

Okay, I love these socks pretty much all year round. However, the sunny weather has allowed me to replenish my sock stock and also pick out some nice pastel colours! 

I've used this eyeliner for about a year now however, it still manages to amaze me. It's the seventeen, lacquer liner with a wet look finish. What I love about it is the size of the brush. It's absolutely tiny which is great because it allows you to get really fine and neat lines for your eyes. 

 

Finally, as summer is slowly approaching it's time to start the regular moisturising process to make my skin super soft and smooth in time for summer. This Soap and Glory body butter cream comes in such a large tub which is great and it smells so fresh and spring like. It smells like lime but with a sweet fruity hint and it actually makes me kind of hungry

Anyway, that's been my favourites this month. I would love to check out yours!  

Alice May 

Xxx 

Birch box

So recently I received my second ever beauty box! It was only in the past few weeks in which I stumbled across the concept of beauty boxes and of course I had to jump on the bandwagon. 

My first beauty box, you beauty discovery is mentioned in a previous post, this post will feature Birch Box.

So this box is a monthly beauty box in which you pay £10 for the box itself and £2.95 for packaging, obviously paying £12.95 in total. 

This months Birch Box had a special Lulu Guinness theme, a designer who had picked a few items for the box. The sleeve of the box therefore was decorated in a Lulu Guinness style which I thought looked very smart. 

 

The box itself comes with some leaflets and vouchers explaining the products and giving certain money off vouchers. 

The products come in this cute little pull string back and are nicely packed away. 

And here is what I saw when I opened the little bag. 

This month I received 6 items in my box which I thought was a really decent amount of products for me to test and try. 

Firstly, I got this Lulu Guinness designed stick of rock, I'm not really a big fan of rock but it has a heart with Lulu Guinness running through the middle which looks pretty cool however I'm not really sure if I will eat this. 

Next I recieved a sample of the perfume English Laundry. Most people hate perfume samples but I find they are quite handy to put into your handbag on a night out or something, however you can get them in most shops for free. 

Next I got this Korres, citrus body milk, this is quite a big sample and body butter is always something that is needed so in looking forward to trying this one out. 

I was really impressed with my next sample product which was the Benefit, stay don't stray eye primer. I absolutely love benefit and have not actually tried this product properly so I'm really pleased that this was in the beauty box. 

Another great sample was this Dr. Brandt, pores no more pore refiner. This is normally a really expensive product in full size and therefore I think the sample is great to test out and again to slip into your make up bag. 

Finally, I recieved this Molton Brown, Rhubarb and Rose, hand cream sample and I have to say it smells absolutely amazing. I love rhubarb and this is like the dream smell. I may even consider purchasing it after this. My item however was damaged when it arrived as I had a faulty plastic tube. I contacted Birch box and straight away they sent me out a replacement of the sample by first class post. I was really impressed with this quick service. 

Overall, I am really impressed with my Birch Box, although it is slightly pricey I am certainly going to keep it going for the next few months to see what else arrives at my door. I just love having little packages to open. 

If you're interested, take a look at my older post on the other beauty box I ordered and compare the two, both at different price scales. 

Alice May 

Xxxx